


Fresh Start

by sillita



Series: You're My Childhood Memory [2]
Category: Scorpion (TV 2014)
Genre: AU, F/M, Gen, Happy likes to have secrets, and Happy doesn't. like. to. be. shrinked., and Toby is basically Toby, even when she doesn't understand why she's keeping them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-24
Updated: 2017-04-24
Packaged: 2018-10-23 14:29:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10721202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sillita/pseuds/sillita
Summary: Happy and Toby had met before she joined Scorpion, on a summer camp when they were kids. But for some reason Happy won't admit that.Sequel to Friendship For Beginners.





	Fresh Start

"Hi." Happy entered the garage, slightly unsure how to act. Yesterday, her first day at work, was an _okay_ day, there wasn't a lot of workmate interaction. Walter ignored everyone most of the time, Sly was nice and polite, but mainly concentrated on his own work and Toby gave her some curious looks, but apart from that, he didn't try to approach her. All of that suited her well, but it also meant that she didn't get acquainted with the work dynamics around the garage. Do they have some kind of meetings to determine current plans and goals? Do they have coffee together? Will she be required to act friendly, or will it be enough to just work alone? What does the rest of the team work on there? All of that was a mystery to Happy at the moment. She decided to continue with her _minimal interaction_ routine from yesterday. She threw her bag next to her desk and sat down, opening a drawer and taking out her tools.

"Hello, comrade." A mug full of coffee appeared at her desk. Along with it, Toby appeared in her workspace.

"Um... hi." He was the last person Happy wanted to familiarize with, but she decided to be nice to everyone. At least at first.

"I just wanted to say, how much I... how much all of us appreciate your presence here. This team needed female presence for a long time." Toby announced.

Happy rolled her eyes. _Here we go again,_ she thought to herself. She felt a bit disappointed that the cheeky kid from the summer camp grew up to say _this_ kind of stuff, but she wasn't exactly surprised. Every workplace, same story. Some douche would approach her to tell how amazed he is to meet a female mechanic. Or something along the lines. Sometimes they would even offer some special treatment, like overlooking some minor mistakes or helping out with more demanding projects. And when they would realize that Happy's much better at the job than them, as they inevitably did, they would usually claim that she's not fully a woman. Or something along the lines. Happy was absolutely sick of it. However, she _really_ wanted this job here to go well. So she decided look past this idiotic cliché and she just gave Toby a reluctant nod.

"Thanks for the coffee." She said.

"Don't mention it. Nothing better than being on good terms with our only mechanic, right? Especially when she's a girl." Toby grinned. Happy took a deep breath. Nope. She wasn't able to handle it calmly.

"Are you insinuating something?" She asked, not making any eye contact, staring at the bolt she was just placing.

"I never insinuate. I'm a very up-front person, which you'll realize when you know me better. Which, I hope, will happen soon."

"A charming one, great." Happy groaned.

"Sorry? You find me charming?" Toby's face lit up with a smile.

"I know men like you." She looked up suddenly. "And believe me, you want to step back now." It sounded like she meant it, especially since she currently wielded a huge metal wrench.

"There are no men like me." Right now, Toby seemed to derive true joy from annoying her. Happy sighed.

"What is your job here anyway? Head idiot?" She asked.

"Such a witty remark. Very middle school." Toby chuckled and nodded with fake appreciation. "And no, I'm a Harvard trained psychiatrist. And here, I am the team's behaviorist."

 _Of course you are._ Happy almost said, but she stopped herself and gave him a thin smile instead. "Then why don't we both get back to our jobs?" She suggested.

"Sure, I don't want to interrupt." Toby moved back.

Happy sighed with relief and came back to what she was working on. Her calmness only lasted a few seconds, because then she realised that Toby only retreated a few steps back, still remaining in her general area. She closed her eyes for a few seconds and decided to ignore him. _Eventually, he has to get bored, right?_   It was disturbing to work with his stare at her neck, but she continued, with her jaw clenched. However, she couldn't keep ignoring him when she heard a sound of a chair being pushed around.

"Could you stop staring?" She asked and raised her head, just to see Toby sitting back in his newly moved seat. "It feels... like you're taking notes."

"He... probably _is_." Happy heard Sylvester from the opposite desk.

"Helpful as always, Sly, thanks a lot!" Toby exclaimed, but didn't move an inch.

"Don't you have a job to do?" Happy shook her head and crossed her arms, exasperated.

"Well, in a way, this _is_ my job. See, Walt isn't exactly _skilled_ at assessing people. So I feel it's my responsibility to estimate if you're a valuable asset to this team, characterwise." Toby explained with an innocent expression on his face.

"Did Walter tell you to do this?" Happy was truly surprised. Walter didn't seem to be the kind of person who would bother with such problems as his teammates' traits of character.

"Don't listen to him, Happy, Walt would never tell him to do that!" Sly was proving himself to be helpful once again.

"Only because Walt wouldn't be able to think of that!" Toby responded cockily.

"Hey, watch it!" They heard Walter for the first time this morning.

"Sorry, Walt, you're a genius, but that's definitely out of your area of expertise." Toby shrugged. "And I just wanted to help."

"Could you want to help over there?" Happy pointed vaguely to a remote part of the garage.

"Okay, I'm going." He got up off his chair. "Just tell, me Happy, did you go down the memory lane yesterday?"

Happy froze. Could he _actually_ know that yesterday, after finding his stupid book, she also found a cheesy old group photo with huge _Canyon Creek 1997_ printed on it with ugly, colorful letters? And that later on, she drank far too much than she should have on a weekday and for the good part of the evening, she lead imaginary disputes with all the foster parents who ever wronged her? He was the _behaviorist_ after all, but was that even possible? _Calm down,_ she thought to herself, _he's a psychiatrist, not a mind reader._

"Because _I_ did." Toby continued, to Happy's relief. "And you know what? I remember you, Happy Quinn. You were a cute kid."

"I don't know what you're talking about." For a reason she didn't fully understand, she decided to bluff.

"Sure." Toby chuckled. "We should go on a date." He changed the subject abruptly, much to Happy's surprise.

"And you took it from the last fifteen minutes?" She raised her eyebrows in pure astonishment. "I didn't know Harvard psychology sucked so much."

"Psychiatry. And no, you just look like someone should take care of you." Toby said with a smug smile. For Happy, it was far too much. She dropped the engine she was working on- didn't quite remember to drop the wrench as well- on and ran up to Toby. She grasped him by the front of his shirt.

"I swear, you're going to wish you never met me." She snapped. Toby's eyes widened , partly with fear, partly with amazement.

"I think I love you." He said in awe. This surprised Happy enough to let go of him, which gave him a few seconds to withdraw.

Happy was left alone by her desk, just as she wished before. Her conscience didn't let her work in peace, though. _Damn it, you_ attacked _a guy on your first day. It's the Denver incident all over again,_ she thought to herself in agitation. _I should apologize. No, he was being an idiot,_ she shook her head. _But I was the brute one,_ she had to admit. This went on for minutes and finally, after half an hour, she made a decision. She approached the couch Toby was currently residing on. He pretended not to notice Happy until she was two steps away. Then he looked up from the book he was reading. To Happy's surprise, he didn't look angry in the least. He looked... curious. She took a deep breath.

"I'm not good at interacting with people."She started slowly. Her fists were clenched, this time not from anger, but from effort. "I tend to misunderstand and get defensive."

"More like, offensive." Toby specified with a smile. Happy ignored him.

"I'm sorry. I didn't wish to have such a... start with anyone here." She finished, and after a few seconds of silence she was ready to leave, but then Toby responded.

"But this isn't a start for us, is it? As I said, you were a cute kid at that summer camp."

"I do not think I ever went to a summer camp." Happy lied, looking him straight in the eyes. He held her stare and they looked at each other for quite a while, because Happy was determined not to look away first.

"Wow, you really want me to believe you." Toby said thoughtfully, frowning.  "What are you so afraid of?"  He looked at her intently. It felt weird. Happy's been asked this question before, more than she'd like to admit, by foster parents and orphanage shrinks, and some other annoying people along the way. But this was the first time it actually felt like someone awaited an answer. There was something in Toby's look that Happy never saw before, it looked a bit like compassion, but was warmer, and... _happier_? She felt her stomach turn into a knot.

"Don't. Ever. Shrink me." She turned around and started to walk away quickly.

"Hey, Happy, wait, please." Toby stopped her. She looked back reluctantly as he came up to her. "I may have played the wrong hand with you, and I'm sorry." This time he was the one to talk slowly and choose the words carefully. "But I really think we can be friends. For now." He added the last sentence quickly. Happy rolled her eyes, but she didn't say anything. "Can we try again? I propose a deal. I'm going to stop annoying you," he continued, and Happy raised her eyebrows in disbelief. " _Okay_ , as much as it's possible for me not to annoy you, and in return, you're going to admit that you remember me. Let's start this friendship without lying, okay?"

Happy considered it for a while.

"You were that annoying brat rambling about psychology." She said reluctantly, without looking at him.

"You and I remember things very differently." Toby grinned.

**Author's Note:**

> I know that the order in which new members of Scorpion were added is messed up here, because Toby was the last one to join. But, well, it's an AU, right? ;)


End file.
